0
0
Nations around the world are keen to leverage whatever it takes to drive foreign tourist visitation, though this rarely extends to bribery.
Being that incentives is another word for bribery, the Taiwan Tourism Administration announced on Friday that second-time visitors to Taiwan will receive 5,000 in local currency, called new Taiwan dollars, or about US$157, as a “reward”. That sum would increase to NTD8,000 if the visitor brings a friend ($230).
The agency reported growing interest in Taiwan as a travel destination, with foreign visitation coming very close to 3 million entries in Q1 this year, a 3.8% year-over-year rise.
The main target of the incentive are Japanese nationals who make up the largest share of foreign visitors. Last year 1.5 million Japanese nationals visited Taiwan, a full 70% of pre-pandemic norms. A steep decline in the purchasing power of the Japanese yen may account for this slow recovery, as the exchange value is making overseas travel dearer for Japanese citizens.
The Japanese government recently reduced the passport application fee in the country by half, to around $44, and the Taiwanese incentive is seen as helping attract these new passport applicants when they decide their first foreign trip.
Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) on Tuesday met with Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) President Ebina Kuniharu and Hankyu Travel International Chair Sakai Jun to encourage more Japanese tourists to visit Taiwan, CNA reported.
“I’ve been to Taiwan once, I went there in 2017,” 21-year-old traveler Katsuhiro, from north Tokyo, told WaL. “I’m going to visit Taiwan in September because my best friend currently studies there”.
“I think it’ll help Taiwan gain even more tourists from Japan. I feel like traveling abroad isn’t really popular even among the young people, [but] if they travelled abroad, their destination would be either South Korea or Taiwan. They would choose places relatively close to Japan”. WaL
